Recycle: It’s an Everyday Habit

A few years ago on a summer trip to Canada, I am literally stopped in my tracks with the realization of how my family isn’t up to par with our efforts in contributing to such an essential way of living. I open my friend’s kitchen cupboard to look for the trashcan. In my amazement I find something that hardly resembles the double wide I have at my home.

Their trashcan is the size of a child’s small plastic pail– the kind of pail a child might use when collecting shells at the beach. My first feeling was one of surprise and then came a rush of guilt. The pail under their sink was so small, so cute. The trash can(s) at my home were four times this size. Our Canadian friends recycle. I thought we did to? The difference being–they recycle absolutely everything–plastic, paper, glass and they have a compost pile. That tiny bucket in their cupboard held their un-recyclable items. They made their everyday recycling habit appear so effortless. A family of five—fit their week’s trash into this adorable little pail.

Fell off the wagon

Moving to Houston, Texas has brought many opportunities and friendships– however, it initially wasn’t very good for my family’s recycling habits. Our neighborhood didn’t promote recycling and we initially fell off the wagon and only recycled paper. It seemed so easy to not recycle— we somehow just slipped out of the habit. Even though I come from a strong lineage of recyclers (my dad had us crushing aluminum cans and rolling newspapers logs for the fireplace ever since I was a little girl.) And, during the fifteen years we lived in England we joined in with a dedicated nation of fierce recyclers—as it was very convenient, easy and everyone did it.

Why should we bother?

That summer trip shook me into the realization of needing to get back on the recycling track for my home I refer to as planet Earth and to teach my children  (as I had been taught) through example—to create another generation of recyclers. Two important benefits of recycling are:

1. It saves energy. To create everyday products such as papers, cans and plastics, a great deal of fossil fuel is used and therefore emissions, which of course creates pollution. Recycling allows a more efficient use of resources. The more products we can recycle, the more energy we save for the planet and society as a whole.

2.  It prevents hazardous materials and chemicals, such as lead and mercury, from ending up in landfill. There are hazardous risks associated with our trash– including those you may not initially think of recycling. Things like batteries, electronics, motor oil, paint and any product that has “Caution” or “Warning” on the label.

A family affair: start small and build, it’s contagious

Initially when we moved into our neighborhood it wasn’t recycling —and so we started small. We faithfully kept our paper products in bags by the back door and dropped them at the children’s school. Gradually we moved back into being full-fledged recyclers in which the whole family contributes. Our teenage daughters, Allie and Sarah take turns delivering our recycling each week to our nearby recycling center, our son Sam is in charge of crushing aluminum cans and breaking down boxes, and my husband Ron and I rinse and sort. We have a nice little recycling station made simply out of a few bins in our garage where we sort our plastic, glass and paper. It’s a family project that I honestly never imagined would work so seamlessly. Everyone enjoys participating. Amazing.